The idea is to make America the 1950s again, labor-wise.
The Industrial Revolution brought American workers from rural farms to urban factories.
American manufacturing, though still second only to China globally, has declined.
Trump has pledged to reverse that trend, but it’s a tall order.
The rub is that people are not so jazzed about working in manufacturing themselves.
There is also a distinctly “manly” edge to Trump’s pronouncements.
His supporters understand that, too.
Macho considerations aside, reshoring supply chains and manufacturing operations would take years to execute.
US manufacturing’s troubles have had to do with more than just globalization and cheaper options.
Technological innovations have changed what manufacturing work looks like and how many people are needed to do it.
For better or worse, that’s how many people feel.
The Great American Manufacturing Revival is a group project no one wants to participate in.
The United States is already facing a manufacturing worker shortage.
The car wash job paid more.
It’s also probably more fun.
But in practice, modern manufacturing jobs don’t really meet those criteria anymore.
Average earnings for manufacturing employees in the USare now lessthan they are for workers overall.
There’s a level of nostalgia to the conversation around anAmerican industrial revival.
They also ignore that America is in a very different place than it was then.
“And that’s just not the world we live in anymore.”
Technological advances make cost-cutting,including via labor reductions, easier than ever for businesses.
They don’t want to toil away in garment factories or iPhone assembly plants for hours on end.
(We’ll leave for another day whether anyone should do this work, especially at dirt-cheap wages.
Many of the toughest manufacturing jobs can be and already have been automated.
Some members of the president’s team have admitted as much.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnickhas been quite clearthat the use of robotics and automation is part of the plan.
They’re going to be mechanics.
There’s going to be HVAC specialists.
There’s going to be electricians."
“Are we bringing back jobs that have a great future?”
We want to be able to make the things we really need, such as weapons, here.
“So that’s a real gain, and therefore, you’re able to raise wages.”
Emily Stewartis a senior correspondent at Business Insider, writing about business and the economy.
